Duty to God and You and Duty to God in Action

The original idea behind the Duty to God adventures for each year program (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, Arrow of Light) when the new program was created, was that this adventure be done at home with the family. Therefore, you can send these home and have the Scouts complete them with their families. The problem we’ve had is that when we send things home, it’s like pulling teeth to get anything back! Also, the Webelos program is moving towards Boy Scouts, with a little more distance from a home-centered program. The Webelos/Arrow of Light Duty to God Duty to God adventures are designed so that they can be done at home or in the den.

For either adventure, you can count the religious award for your faith, or the requirements in the Webelos handbook.

When we did these adventures, we did both at once. I have it scheduled from now on for December, because this is typically a low-attendance month. If they come, they can do as much as possible with the den and finish at home. If they don’t come, they can do the whole thing at home.

Week One: The first week, we played the Duty to God game. I created this originally to help us earn a special award available in our council several years ago. Since you probably won’t be doing that, you can replace some of the questions to fit the needs of your Webelos. (Just be sure you check the requirements you need to fulfill and catch them somewhere—in the game or out.) You can easily take out or replace some of the questions. This game is played similarly to the Who Me game at Wood Badge. You roll a dice (or use a spinner) to see how many spaces to move. If you land on a blue square, you draw a blue card from the pile and answer the question. If you land on a yellow square, you draw a yellow card and everyone answers the question. 

Game Files:

Game Board

Yellow Cards

Blue Cards

This week, we also showed them the Duty to God video made by our church. They each should also choose three things that will draw them closer to God and help them do their Duty to God. These things should be written down, with a plan for how they will do it. (i.e. I am going to read my scriptures and pray every day. I will remember by doing it first thing in the morning. I’ll have a note next to my bed to remind me. I will also go to church every week. I’ll ask my parents to help me remember to get ready.) Also, we had everyone decide on something special they were going to do at home to serve a family member (read to my brother every day this week, set the table and do dishes, etc.).

Week Two: The second week, we had everyone report on how they’re doing on their goals, and how the service went. (Reporting on goals was not to be nosy or intrusive on whether they’re doing those things, but mostly as a reminder so they don’t forget to keep doing it.) When they report their service, they need to also tell about how that relates to doing their duty to God and how it made them feel.

We also worked on the religious square knot requirements this week. This is hard because for ours, most of the requirements have to be done at home. But we went over what they needed to do and explained everything.

If you have an available third week: Finish up anything you didn’t get done before, or arrange a service project. This could be visiting a lonely ward member, going to the care center, washing windows for someone, raking leaves or shoveling snow, etc.